Sixteen-year-old Zara "Zip" McKee lives for three things: basketball, books, and bailing out of tiny Titusville, Illinois, where the junior high and high school are in the same building and everyone's known everyone else since birth. But when Kieran Lanier moves to town and passes out on her desk on his first day at school, Zip's life gets complicated in a way she never dreamed.

Kieran has narcolepsy, and although he sometimes struggles to stay awake, he has no trouble capturing Zip's heart and trusting her with his most guarded secret--he sees bits and pieces of the future in his dreams.

But just when Zip thinks that maybe she can handle having a boyfriend who sees things before they happen, her budding relationship with Kieran gets a jolt when Kieran's parents reveal that his sleeping disorder is not what it seems and may be putting them in harm's way. And when Zip begins to have unsettling dreams, she must decide if she can live with knowing the future in advance when she's afraid of what might happen.

*Recommended for Young Adult readers 13 and up (mild cursing, some adult situations)

My Review:

This is a very well written novel. I never once got lost trying to figure out what the author was trying to tell me. Descriptions are very clear (and basketball related) and all of the characters have complete personalities of their own. I absolutely love the fact that this is not one of your typical alpha male stories. The main character is a sports star in the local high school and is also female.

I must say, however, that I did find the storyline a bit slow. Nothing much happens for the bulk of the story. When the story finally begins to build it ends just as suddenly as it had started. Don’t get me wrong, I was never actually bored while reading this story, but it wasn’t something that I couldn’t put down either.

That said, Martin does an excellent job of portraying actual families. I found it very reassuring that the characters in the story had to face actual consequences when disobeying their parents, or just simply doing things that they should not. Unfortunately, the characters spend a great deal of time lying to their parents as well. As a reader, you can see their reasons for doing so, but they put themselves in harm’s way in the process.

All in all, this novel gave me a great deal to think about while reading it. It was also reminiscent of how little there is to do on the weekend when growing up in a small town.